If anyone ever talks to my father about raising cattle, he will eventually bring up the infamous, Gus the horrible. Gus was a huge Santa Gertrudis bull (This is what he looked like) which Uncle Jackie had bought in hopes of starting his own breeding program on the farm. I don't know why, but Gus hated my father with a passion that would echo down through the states history. He put my father in the hospital once with a severe concussion after knocking him through a fence , broke his ribs a couple times, he rammed the broken down dumptruck my father was working on so hard that the door was crooked on it's hinges, he stomped at him what seemed every time we would do the farm wide inoculations. Gus hated my father and my Father hated Gus equally.
Now, I was around 5 or 6 when Gus came to the farm. At the time I knew no fear of any living creature. I also really didn't have any close friends to play with. I would entertain myself by playing with the animals on the farm in the times when the Kitchens were scaring me and Jill, the little girl down the street, was busy with her Girl Scout troop. Every cow on the farm was taught that I was harmless I guess and would come up to me for a salt cube that my Papa Jack taught me to keep in my pockets while in the fields. Gus to me, was just another large cow. A really really large cow... I loved walking out to the fence line near the garden and sneaking Gus a broken corn stalk. He was never aggressive toward me at all. So when Daddy would compain to Mamma about how much he hated that cow, I felt as if he was insulting my friend. When I was down about something, I would go out to the field and talk to Gus, or any other cow about my problems. (I was 5ish, don't make fun of me.)
One day, Gus wasn't in the field for one of our little talks. Daddy had been threatening to shoot Gus for a while, so I instantly assumed that he had gotten drunk again and did it. I cried all the way up the gravel driveway to Mama's arms. She called Ann and found out that Gus had gotten out in the night and was in the Bridges' field until they could all get home and transfer him back to his home field. He never came back though. A couple days later, Jackie decided that Gus was too much trouble for his worth and took him to the Round Barn Auction House. I never saw Gus again. I also didn't eat beef for a couple months after that. I was afraid that I would be eating my buddy.
It's inconsequential and rather pointless, but I wanted to share this memory with you.
Now, I was around 5 or 6 when Gus came to the farm. At the time I knew no fear of any living creature. I also really didn't have any close friends to play with. I would entertain myself by playing with the animals on the farm in the times when the Kitchens were scaring me and Jill, the little girl down the street, was busy with her Girl Scout troop. Every cow on the farm was taught that I was harmless I guess and would come up to me for a salt cube that my Papa Jack taught me to keep in my pockets while in the fields. Gus to me, was just another large cow. A really really large cow... I loved walking out to the fence line near the garden and sneaking Gus a broken corn stalk. He was never aggressive toward me at all. So when Daddy would compain to Mamma about how much he hated that cow, I felt as if he was insulting my friend. When I was down about something, I would go out to the field and talk to Gus, or any other cow about my problems. (I was 5ish, don't make fun of me.)
One day, Gus wasn't in the field for one of our little talks. Daddy had been threatening to shoot Gus for a while, so I instantly assumed that he had gotten drunk again and did it. I cried all the way up the gravel driveway to Mama's arms. She called Ann and found out that Gus had gotten out in the night and was in the Bridges' field until they could all get home and transfer him back to his home field. He never came back though. A couple days later, Jackie decided that Gus was too much trouble for his worth and took him to the Round Barn Auction House. I never saw Gus again. I also didn't eat beef for a couple months after that. I was afraid that I would be eating my buddy.
It's inconsequential and rather pointless, but I wanted to share this memory with you.
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